WHY CHAKRAS?
If you haven’t read my book yet, it’s basically my life story: how I became a teacher, how I got into yoga, how I was led to create the best job ever at two of the most amazing high schools in the world, and how learning about the chakras was integral to healing my decade plus of excruciating back pain.
Every semester, in order to introduce the philosophy of the chakra system, I tell my students the detailed drama of “the back pain story”. There’s heartbreak, betrayal, rejection, and… growth.
Never in my life did I find so much growth as when I finally started to understand myself. True healing is possible. Not just physically, but the mental and emotional healing I wasn’t even aware I needed. I tell my students about my masks, my walls, my iceberg… so that they can flip the mirror on themselves and look within. Hopefully you are willing to do the same.
Join me in my blog as we journey through the chakra system.
❤️🧡🔥💚🦋💙💜
So what is a chakra?
Chakras come from the eastern tradition. The word chakra is Sanskrit, and translates as “wheel”. A chakra is a spinning vortex of energy. There are 7 main centers that run along the spine, root to crown. Depending on what’s going on during the developmental stage of the chakra (think Erikson’s developmental stages & Maslow’s hierarchy of needs combined), the chakra will be created in a balanced or imbalanced way that affects the way we interpret life situations, therefore, how we respond.
You have all experienced situations where you’ve seen different people “react” in completely different ways to the same situation. We see people (maybe ourselves) running away from things. Whether that’s feelings, another human, or a responsibility, it’s an observable action. The way a chakra is formed will affect how you respond in different life situations.
A deficient energy center doesn’t have enough energy flowing in to support the function, gifts, or purpose of the energy center. Classic “flight” in the “fight or flight syndrome”. Like drinking melted chocolate through a coffee straw.
An excessive energy center would look like the “fight” portion: obsession, tunnel vision, not letting things go, fixating on something, being overly focused on an idea or situation, even when you’ve gotten what you need from it. Like drinking from a fire hose, but your mouth is partially sewn shut.
Balance happens when we flow with life. We take in what is needed, and we operate from a place of self love, and we allow ourselves to experience the gift of each energy center, whether that be feeling like we belong, speaking up for ourselves, or trusting our intuition.
Here’s an example of all three:
- Hoarding something during a global pandemic because you’re afraid you won’t have enough? First chakra excess.
- Feeling like you don’t deserve to have your needs met and so you push help away and are not receptive when it comes? Deficiency.
- Trusting you have enough and that your needs will be met no matter what during said pandemic? Balanced energy of the root chakra.
Chakras and… awareness
I learned about chakras when I was 27. Apparently I wasn’t ready for them earlier than that. I had painted myself into a corner in my life. I was so busy with a myriad of “good things,” that I didn’t have time to even sit with myself for 5 minutes, nor did I want to. I was always doing something, and all of those things held such importance. I had been teaching school for 5 years, was simultaneously working on my masters degree, my personal training certification, teaching at 3 gyms (all 30-45 minutes away from home), and had just taken on a Pilates class at a local yoga studio. I’d been “teaching yoga” for 7 years at that point, but I didn’t have a big foundation in philosophy. My life foundation was about to be ripped up and reset, much like an earthquake… sound familiar anyone?
Learning about the chakra system opened me up to understanding that there was deeper meaning behind my pain. That I wasn’t just a victim of circumstance, improper lifting at the gym, or bad genetics. It allowed me to start looking at myself introspectively, and to travel deeper than the surface pain I had focused on for over a decade, along with all of the specialists I had gone to for help.
You will find basic information in this blog about each chakra. A video link (made for my students, thanks Covid, and apologies about the less than professional quality), to balance each chakra with yoga, a guided meditation, and healing affirmations. Feel free to join me, and please share with anyone you think would enjoy it. #namaste 🙏🏼